YEAR: 1997

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: June

STATE: Colorado

COUNTY: Teller County

LOCATION DETAILS: off the road from Woodland Park to Decker.

NEAREST TOWN: Woodland Park

OBSERVED: My family (5) and I go on vacation every year. One year we decided to go to Colorado on a camping trip. We also would always our dog and this year my brother took his rat. After a long trip across Kansas, we finally crossed the border to Colorado. We headed to Colorado Springs. We were going to stay at a camping trip, but as usual we found a place to set up camp away from any sites or towns. It was pretty secluded where we were. Our camp site was surrounded by woods except to the east there was a long field. Now it was the very first night and we had two tents. In one tent was my Parents and my sister. In the other tent was my brother his pet rat and I. We ate a good meal of hot dogs and s'mores. A sitting around the fire for a little while, we went to bed. It was a very clear night and I remember how bright the moon and stars were. I really ever heard of "bigfoot" or paid to much attention to it before. It seemed like I hadn't had much sleep before I awoke to find my brother's rat digging around in the bag at the top of the little pup tent(my brother let the rat run around in the tent). Its rustling is what I think woke me up. So I got up to take him out, but I froze as did my blood. I was suddenly wide awake. I just stared because to the left of me I saw the silouette of a tall two legged creature through the door( we had zipped up the screen and left the cover off ). I was and still am sure that it was not a bear or any other animal, and I am especially sure it was no human. Its arms were shorter than its legs and it was covered with hair. I got the feeling it was alarmed because right when stopped a jerked its head and walked speadlily away. My eyes were glued to it and I watched its every move. It walked away towards the field, turned around, and I lost sight of it. I can still remember thinking about the way it moved. It definatly was not normal. It bent at the knee and when it turned, it seemed like its whole upper body moved around. Of course the next day when I told my family no one believed me, but I know and I have known that it is a fact that sasquatch is real and is a living breathing animal. I also believe that it is not a threat. I definatly encourage people who are trying to bring sasquatch into reality for others for the right reasons. Ever since then I been very interested in it and cryptozoology.

ALSO NOTICED: I searched in the field but it was dry and I found nothig.

OTHER WITNESSES: I was the only one who woke up except for my dog who whimpered

TIME AND CONDITIONS: BRIGHT NIGHT AND THE MOON WAS ESPECIALLY BRIGHT.

ENVIRONMENT: mountianous, heavily wooded, and a field to the east

A & G References: CO A&G pg 50 D-1

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Dennis Pfohl:

Stephen was 9 years old at the time of the encounter in the early summer of 1997. They were camped away from the main campground and near a clearing surrounded by trees and at the bottom of a hill. Stephen was awakened in the early morning hours by his brother’s pet rat that they had brought along and was sharing their tent. He sat up to put the rat back in its cage when he heard what sounded like footsteps outside his tent. He looked out the door screening and saw a very tall, broad shouldered silhouette of a man- like figure standing approximately eight to ten feet away and slightly to his left. It looked like it had been walking in a right to left direction, midway between his tent and his parents. It was standing completely still, in a frozen semi-walking and hunched forward pose.

Although there was adequate moonlight, he could not make out any facial details but he thought it was looking at him. It appeared to be about 7ft tall, the head was described as egg shaped coming to a blunt point near the top and flat on the front, the shoulders were very wide and heavy looking. The arms were held in a swing position with the left arm forward and the right back. The forearms appeared to be unusually long. The legs looked very thick and heavy, particularly in the thighs. There was a breeze and he noticed hair moving all over the body, which was a uniform dark coloration. After what seemed like two minutes of staring at each other the figure turned its shoulders and upper body then the hips and legs following with the momentum and proceeded to walk back in the direction it was coming from, towards the clearing. Stephen lost sight of it quickly as it passed beyond his tent door. No unusual odors were detected but it was breezy at the time. Stephen was very scared and didn’t wake anyone but told his family the next morning.

After speaking with Stephen and his Parents on the phone I was impressed this young man had seen something unusual that morning. He was well spoken and polite.

The description Stephen gave of its movement, turning to leave is similar to other eyewitness accounts like BFRO Report #1760 for example.

The Pike National Forest has a long history of reports and sightings including these BFRO reports:
Report #3588
Report #819
Report #1375
Report #1376
Report #880
Report #7225

About BFRO Investigator Dennis Pfohl:

Dennis Pfohl is a business owner in Colorado and an avid Outdoorsman. He attended the 2004 New Mexico Expedition (Mescalero IR), 2005 New Mexico Expedition (Mescalero), 2005 California Sierras Expedition, and 2005/2008 Oklahoma exp. 2008 Texas Expedition. Organizer of the first Colorado
BFRO expedition in 2005, and organized the 06,07,08,09,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 and( non public) Colorado Expeditions.